Abstract [en]

A need for a quantitative method to determine body water level has been identified by a team of Clinical Innovation Fellows at the Centre for Technology in Medicine and Health (CTMH). A reliable way to determine body water level would bring great benefits to the healthcare sector, where no optimal method is available at the time of writing. A possible solution is a sensor that would measure alterations in skin properties due to changes in total body water. CTMH has had an idea of such a sensor, which is evaluated in this work. At an early stage of this evaluation process, it became clear that the research regarding correlations between skin properties and body hydration level was not sufficient to warrant the initiation of a sensor development process. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis became to investigate such correlations.

An extensive literature review is presented, from which an experiment was developed. The experiment was performed on four human test subjects and involved measurements of skin thickness and elasticity parameters, before and after a weight loss of 3.2-3.7 % due to dehydration. The results showed clear decreases in skin thickness and indications of alterations in skin distensibility as well as in the skin’s immediate elastic response to applied negative pressure. It could also be seen that skin at different body sites does not respond in the same way - calves showed more distinct results than thighs and volar forearm.

The material provided in this thesis encourages further studies of the correlation between the mentioned properties and total body water. If a predictable correlation can be found, a sensor development process could start. A reliable way to determine body water level would bring great benefits to the healthcare sector, where no optimal method is available at the time of writing.